Pay per mile idea …

Sounds as though you had a great time, how many in your group? Was your bike comfortable enough for the 1800 miles touring or were you sometimes wishing for a sports tourer?

I don’t know how this charging effects motorbikes, but this charging per mile for cars will be the start of a Civil War!
We love our cars and have more cars per head than any other country in the world.

Now the Govt. are on about abolishing the road tax and charging you for every mile you use using sattelite tracking and charging you for the time and type of road you are using.
As GSX1000 says rural areas are 2p per mile for example, but city centres could be as high as £5 per mile! This is all 10 years away.

You saw what happened when the Govt. went to hike up the petrol charges, do they really think we are all going to pay for sat tracking and then pay £000’s of pounds per year to drive our cars? These tracking devices will also be used to monitor your road speed and automatically fine you for speeding.

They want us to abandon our cars and use buses and trains, what a laugh. Do we all sell our cars and who to? They would lose all their value as nobody would want them.

I for one will be joining the armies of protestors as and when it happens.

I will now get off the soap box, great topic GSX1000. What do you all think?

Be seen and be Safe!

I did over 450 miles in one day a couple of weeks ago….do about 200 miles on a typical Sunday ride out, they are more comfy than people realise![]

LOVE IS GIVING SOMEONE THE ABILITY TO DESTROY YOU, THEN TRUSTING THEM NOT TO.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, vacuum in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming…….WOO HOO, there goes another engine!

GSXR1000, Now thats what I call a ride,good for you mate,you lucky bugger.ooooooooooooarrrrrrrr! And as for paying per mile could end up costing a lot more than your road tax, but what horrifies me most, is that they are tracking you and know exactly where you are, and who will have access to this knowledge? this is major BIG BROTHER!

I’m not riding fast, I’m just flying low. and please DONATE to this website

Currently we have tax on fuel. If you cover more miles you buy more fuel paying more tax, therefore we already have a “pay as you go” system.

This new idea, while it has some benefits in theory for off peak and rural users, overall is a complete mess. It will be expensive both to install and to run.
Also while they might cut fuel tax, do you seriously think that the government (be it Labour, Tory or Liberal), will allow this to raise less tax income overall than the current system?

This is before you start getting into the civil liberties aspect…

I will be protesting if they try to implement it.

However, one thorny point does remain…Congestion is on the rise and we do need to do someting to reduce it.

If we are to protest, then we must be able to table a viable alternative.

My first suggestion, kill the school run. Set up a school bus system similar to that operated in the USA.

Also introduce varible working times where possible, so that not everybody is trying to get to the same place at the same time.

Another way round this could be working from home. In my case I often drive the 33 miles to my office then send e-mails, work on the company intranet and make phone calls all day. This could be done at home and 66 miles could be saved. I could work 2-3 days a week from home most of the time.

As for your trip up to Scotland GSX, it sounded superb. Many years ago I toured Scotland on my 1982 Suzuki GS550E in company with a Yamaha XJ650 riding friend. The roads, the people and views were superb.

Ducati v Japanese sports 4. As you say, a massive difference, and I find it amusing that to the non biker they just appear to be two bikes, much the same.

In my case it was a Ducti 748 v my YZF600R. Similar power outputs and overall performance but the difference in feel and delivery would put chalk and chesse to shame.

The Ducati was such a charasmatic ride, and so light and compact. That V twin snarling and the ride was rock hard. At lower speeds it felt awful, but suddenly at about 90mph it just came alive and all started to make sense.

Getting back aboard the YZF it felt weird, like all the controls had been disconnected, so directly ‘hard wired’ was the Ducati to your senses.

The YZF is a hugely capable bike, but the Ducati is the real deal.

Why don’t I ride one then?

I don’t fit on one too well…

As a shift worker, I need my own transport to get me to/from work in the hours outside of public transport (AND, being a train driver, I sometimes HAVE to be at work at 4am, so I can get my train ready to get the 9 to 5 mob to work!).
I work a 24 week roster, that has different start/finish times, for most of it, and also gives different work days/days off, week by week. In respect of this, we have a job where a driver signs on for duty at 8.25am. Even on my bike, no matter how early I leave home for work (20 miles), I am often a few minutes late during school days, but oh, bliss of all blisses, on a school holiday day when on that particular job, I often have time to have a cuppa before even getting my bag out of my locker, even without allowing any ‘extra’ time to get there. Sooo, anything that can stop the daily school run is totally welcomed by me! I’d also make most, if not all sales reps travel by public transport too-you know the ones, they have their suits dangling on a hanger, in the back of their (company) cars!
And to finalise, I’d shoot anyone I saw using a mobile fone when driving, that would free the gridlocked roads up a helluva lot, methinx!!!

BLOOP!!! BLOOP!!! BLOOP!!!